Venture toVolland
A glimpse of the former town known
as Volland, Kansas

I've heard several stories about Volland and several different ways to get
there and that it was
ghost town. When I got into a conversation recently with one person, I was told,
"Well, it's a
ghost town, but there are people living there too."

In light of that, I first drove south
of Alma, Kansas to see if the Flint Hills were beginning
to green up after a cold dry Winter. About ten miles south, I went west on a ridge
road,
only to find after about twelve miles it came to an abrupt end and a locked gate. So
much
for taking a short cut to Volland via our GPS and trying to sneak in the back way.

Dry and dusty, but enough moisture to keep
a small pond filled, a Red-wing blackbird
singing and Spring wild flowers blooming all along the edge of the roadway.

This is the perfect time of the year
to really see the formation of the Flint Hills,
before the blue-stem grass is really tall and growing.

Volland is located about half way
between Alma and Alta Vista, via Old Highway K-10, going
straight West out of Alma. It's hard pavement about five miles then turns into
gravel. When you
arrive at the intersection of Volland Road and Old K-10, turn left and your entering the
area
from the north.

The
old tractor is the first sign that your in Volland, located on the east side of the
Volland
Road, then two older empty houses on the right or west side and another out building
between the two. If you were to enter Volland from the south, you would cross the
Union Pacific Railroad tracks.

This red brick building, facing south on the
west side of main street, at one time
had a street running east and west in front of it.

Locked and boarded up on the east side of
main street, this at one time may have been aclothing apparel store, as there were women and men's hats etc., in some shelves
and what I couldsee through the front windows.

On my way out of Volland and a few miles east
towards Alma, I came across this
1800's small building and what remains of it. The inside of the cellar
had a curved ceiling and no rattle snakes or other critters.